Our Summer
by ravenandbb4ever
Summary: Rachel Roth's father is in the mob and wants her to go in the family business with him. When her mother forces her and her brother, Jason, to spend the Summer in a reclusive cottage on the beach so that she can have some fun before going into the family business. She meets Gar Logan and his band of friends and her view of life forever changes. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own the Teen Titans.**

"Why exactly are we doing this? How the heck is a summer alone with you in a tiny cottage going to solve our issues?"

My brother, Jason, turned around from packing his suitcase to face me. "You know that this is mother's way of letting us have a last hurrah before we enter the 'family business'."

He puts air quotes around the words 'family business' to make sure that I got it. I got it all right I wasn't an idiot. "You know just because you're 5 minutes older than me Jason, doesn't mean that you have to sugar coat things around me. Besides, you know perfectly well that they were rhetorical questions and that I was just venting. So don't act all smart on me."

"Okay first off I wasn't acting smart, second off how the heck am I supposed to read your mind, and third off your just cranky cause you won't get to spend your entire summer locked up in your room."

"You got me, Jason; you really and truly got me. That is exactly why I don't want to spend 3 months with you in a small cottage on the beach. It has _nothing_ to do with the fact that after we get back we will be sucked in to our father's business. It has nothing to do with the fact that our mother booked this at the last possible moment when I have to work on my paper. Do you know how hard it is to do research with no internet access and no decent library?"

"Just stop complaining and go get in the car. We are going to have fun and solve issues if it kills us! Think about mother!"

As much as I didn't want to go and instead keep complaining he did have a point. Mother needed us to get along and stick together as a family. This was important to her and here I was acting like a spoiled brat.

What has gotten in to me lately? Usually I was obedient, silent, and emotionless. Maybe I was just sick of my stupid life; whatever the heck it was I needed to suck it up. This is the worst possible time for me to have an emotional breakdown.

"You're right I am sorry I have been acting like a brat. I guess that I am just stressed."

"It's okay everyone needs to vent once in a while and the last time you vented you were six, so I guess that you were due for a tantrum. Just don't show mother that you were upset. You're forgiven, so just wait in the car and I will be there in a couple minutes."

"Thanks Jason, I owe you one. I'll just wait for you here; my stuff is already in the trunk. I don't want to run into father and he never comes to your room. If I am with you, he won't bother me."

Ever since Jason and I were five it had been pretty clear that I was dad's favorite. He was hoping that his only firstborn son would be the one to take over his job when he retired. But it was pretty clear that Jason wasn't cut out for my father's job. My dad needed a son that was heartless, cold, methodical, and brilliant. Unfortunately Jason's smarts were mostly in the history and music department.

Dad was hoping for another son, but he never got one. Instead, he had no one else's to turn to expect for me. I had all the traits that his job needed, except for one thing. I was a female. So he hated me because I wasn't the gender that was needed and he was relived because I was his female doppelganger.

When parents pick a favorite child the other child usually feels neglected and unwanted, but in this case being the unwanted child had its major perks. While I had to spend my entire life going to advance classes, learning martial arts and how to use various weapons with precise accuracy. Jason was pretty much ignored and left to live his own life. Which, in our house is a _huge_ blessing.

"Excellent point and the student becomes the master in the fine art of avoiding our paternal parent. Have you finally gotten sick of learning to become fluent in Latin and Romanian?"

I rolled my eyes at him and he went back to packing the last few items for his suitcase. Despite our constant jabs at each other, we got along remarkably well for opposite gender twins. I guess we had to have each other's backs. What with him being left to his own undeveloped brain's devices from being completely ignored and I having our father constantly on my back to become him. Even though our father was the last person on Earth that I ever would want to become.

But even though we were close there was some things that I would never, ever share with him. Like what _exactly_ our father did for a living, or how _exactly _he got me to stay motivated in what he called my 'highest potential' studies. He doesn't even know how far our father will go to get what he wants.

All he knows is that at the end of this summer, I will finally join my father in the family business. It was supposed to be at the end of the last term, but mother wanted me to have a last couple of months to be free and childlike. Like I could ever be childlike. I appreciated the gesture, I did. But I needed to use these months to figure out a way to get my family away from my father. Or at least figure out a way to get me out of joining his business.

Jason zipped up the designer suitcase and heaved it off his king sized bed with a heave. As I went to go open the door I heard shouting that came from under us.

"You know, Jason? I will go down and see what is going on. I can come back upstairs to get you."

"Rachel! I know that I haven't had it as rough as you have and I know that you feel responsible for protecting us. But I am a grown man and your older brother. Stop trying to deal with things on your own!"

He was so innocent and naïve, I couldn't ruin that just yet, but the way that he was looking at me stopped those words from escaping my lips. So I went with a different approach, "You know what? Fine, we can deal with this together. But you can't call yourself my _older_ brother, you're only five minutes older than I am. Do you understand me?"

He gave off that little boy crocked grin that he only used with me. "You got it, sis."

I rolled my eyes at him again and opened the door, all the while praying that our father wasn't in one of his violent moods. No matter how much he argued Jason wasn't ready to experience that. And hopefully he never would have to.

The shouting increased in volume as we climbed down the marble west entry staircase. In front of the front door I could see my parents arguing, my father looming over my petit mother. But she wasn't cowering yet, not this time.

"You know that she has to go into the family business, Arella! She is a trained professional she doesn't _need_ to have fun. I need her with me at the office, what I don't need is her gallivanting around some beach! She has to study and train and…."

"AND WHAT? She is young and no matter what you say she is going to have fun before she puts her life in danger for money! And we both no darn well that it isn't 'the office' in which you work! She is my daughter to, and I agreed to let her work with you but if she is going to risk her life at such a young age then she needs to be herself and have fun before she does that. You have been designing her personality for too long Trigon!"

"You know what, FINE! She can have her stupid time of! She gets a month! One month and then she is _mine!" _He stormed out of the room and looked back only once to say, "And you have to pay for it yourself to!"

We finished climbing the rest of the stairs and I faced my mother. She had tears streaming down her almost purple eyes and her dark hair was a tangled mess. Jason gave her a hug while I watched in the background. When she had calmed down enough to talk I finally stepped forward.

"Mom? You know you don't have to do this right? I can go into the family business and get my paper done. I am okay with that."

_No, I am not! But I need to stay where the library and internet access are if I am going to figure out a way to let us escape._

"No! You are going and that is it young lady! I have arranged for you to stay in a reclusive, small cottage at the end of the beach. The only people around is the next door neighbor and he is too old to go there anymore. It will be fun! It's where I used to go to when I was a little girl!"

I knew that she was being cheerful for our sakes and she knew that we knew that she was faking it. But I nodded and gave her a quick awkward hug and told her goodbye. When my brother hugged her she whispered in his ear thinking that I probably wouldn't be able to hear it. "Make sure that your sister has a good time and shows some darn emotion. I'm counting on you, son."

He gave her a quick nod while I picked up his suitcase and opened the door. "You ready, Jason?" He gave me yet another nod and followed me out the door. Without speaking he headed towards his black convertible BMW and I headed for my Porsche.

"Seriously Rachel? We are going to take two separate cars?"

"Hey I got a lot of stuff I need to bring for my paper and you'll want to use your car to go to clubs and I will want to use mine to find a library in that god forsaken town. I'm just preventing a fight in the future."

"Okay fine we'll take separate cars." He grabbed his suitcase from me and shoved it in his trunk before heading to the driver's side door. I knew that he wasn't mad at me, he was mad at our father and the lives that we lived and I respected that. I knew he needed his space and the long drive would give him time to think.

I took one last look at the mansion that I grew up in and took a deep breath. I was never the type of person to head away from my problems, I always wanted to face and solve them but now I wouldn't get the chance. For the first time in my life, I left the source of my problems and instead headed to the openness of the open road.


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own the Teen Titans**

By the time that we got to what I had deemed 'the hole' it was already sunset, and even though I had vowed that I would hate this place, I had to admit the view was breathtaking. Something about the way that the ocean turned a shade of pink to match the sky and you couldn't tell where the ocean ended and the sky started made you want to believe in God.

Despite myself my shoulders relaxed for the first time since I found out what my father did for a living and the permanent scowl almost went away_, almost._

"See? I knew this would be good for you, your relaxing already. Not that I can blame you that view is breathtaking."

I turned around and saw Jason staring at me, not the view, with a pleased smirk on his face. He was standing right inside the door of his BMW on the pavement that lead to the boardwalk, but there was one thing missing, an actual building. So instead of making some smart comment back I decided to ask a question.

"Ummm, Jason? Where exactly is this so called cottage? I see nothing but sand, ocean, boardwalk, and pavement. You pulled over here so I just assumed it was here. So is it here?"

He gave me a laugh/exhale sort of thing and his smile got wider. "Patience, my young grasshopper. Mom did say it was reclusive; the road ends here so we have to take a boat the rest of the way or walk."

Oh goodness. There was no way no how that I was going to walk for who knows how many miles in the sand. I am not a get dirty, outdoors type of person. Well yes, I realize that I get my hands dirty all the time in the metaphorical sense and the sense of gunpowder and blood. But there is just something about sand in between my toes that just drives me crazy.

"Whoa there, sister dearest. You should have seen the look on your face! Don't worry I hired some local guy to drive our rented boat there; you won't have to get those designer shoes of yours dirty. Don't you think that I know you at all?"

I breathed a sigh of relief as a boat indeed pulled up along the boardwalk. A guy that was around 5'10", tan, with hair lightened form years of sun stepped out with a flourish that only someone who had done this for years could do.

"Hi Guys! I am Gar Logan you must be the new neighbors! I'm here to bring your to our side of the beach!" He held out his hand to my brother who shook it with a lack of enthusiasm that only a Roth could muster. To make sure that he knew that there would absolutely be no physical contact between us I climbed on to the boat leaving my bags for the men to deal with.

To say that I was impressed by this boat would be an understatement. It had several small rooms below deck including a small kitchen, a bedroom and bathroom, and a small room with a love seat and a T.V..

I hated to admit it but Jason had done a good job in renting this, and I suspected he had to do it out of pocket, so it made it even sweeter. No doubt about it, I know owed my brother.

I could see myself escaping from my nightmare of a life and coming down and just reading.

This was the kind of place that I could start putting my plan into action.

**Gar Logan's Point of View**

When I woke up this morning and took a look at the boat, that the new neighbors had rented for the summer, my only thought was _rich. _Which didn't make sense because the same people had rented the only other building in the area, and that place didn't scream _rich. _In fact, I doubted that it would last another hurricane season.

That small cottage was only 10 feet from the house that my group of friends and I rented from my grandfather, but there was no other buildings for miles.

I was raised by my grandfather since the time that I was 13. After my parents died in a boating accident 15 years ago I had spent some time with my foster parents Steve and Rita before they died in a car accident. After that my grandfather took me in and we had spent every summer in the big house by the run down cottage.

Now that he was too old to come here anymore my friends and I rented it from him so that he wouldn't have to sell it. Now I lived her year round and did a bunch of odd jobs to keep myself a float so that I would have enough money for a house of my own.

We might have owned the biggest house on the block but my grandfather and I weren't rich by any stretch of the imagination. My parents were very successful scientists and had left me some money but I would be only able to use it when I got married. So my grandfather came out of retirement when he got stuck with me just to feed us. The two houses that he owned being the only thing left to him by my great grandfather who was in real estate.

Anyway, I am starting to ramble. What was I saying? Oh yeah, the boat.

So when I had gotten a call from our neighbours asking if I could pick them up for cash I jumped at the opportunity. From the size of that boat they had to be rich, and who was I to judge about their lodging choices. Maybe they wanted privacy or they just decided to slum it?

My directions were clear, I was to meet them by the end of the road and bring them to the dock that we shared.

When I pulled up to the boardwalk I saw a young man and woman facing each other. They were obviously siblings because of their unusual color in hair and skin color. The man was the one facing me and he appeared to be around six feet tall.

I couldn't see his sister very well because of how much taller he was than her but one thing struck in my mind. Designer. Every single thing was designer! From the cars to the bags to their clothes to their freaking shoes, everything was spotless and expensive.

No wonder they didn't want to hike all the way there.

When they heard that I was here I heard a feminine sigh of relief and her brother took a couple of steps closer to me but remaining to block out his companion. I took a deep breath and put a smile on my face I loved meeting new people and this was my element. "Hi Guys! I am Gar Logan you must be the new neighbors! I'm here to bring your to our side of the beach!"

I held out my hand to the male and he shook it with no enthusiasm and a ghost smile on his face.

Before I could hold my hand out to his sister she stepped around me and with grace stepped onto the boat, but not before I saw her face. To say that she was pretty would have been the understatement of the year. There was just something about her that was just unattainable and untouchable.

It could have been the way her dark purple hair slightly curled, or the long eyelashes highlighting her purple orbs. Her skin looked like flawless pale porcelain. Or it could have been that her face, while beautiful, had a scowl on it that looked like it was going nowhere.

When she had disappeared under the deck her brother let out a sigh. "Sorry about her. She has some stuff that she is dealing with; I know that it's no excuse but she has had a tough life."

He was right it was no excuse to behave that way I had had a tough life and I didn't act that way but instead of voicing my opinions I simply nodded. "That's alright. Who knows maybe one day I will be able to make her smile this summer."

He laughed a full blown laugh that I didn't know was possible to come from him. "Ha! That will be the day. The only laugh that she ever gives is a sarcastic one and even those are rare. Be my guest in trying though, just don't be disappointed if it never happens."

With that he grabbed his bag and a couple of his sister's, leaving me to deal with the few weird looking ones that were left. By weird I mean, _weird._ There was one that I am not kidding you was the shape of a rifle and another was the shape of a bow. You know? Like the ones that you shot arrows with?

Not all of them were weirdly shaped though; there were also a couple of normal looking briefcases. I mean seriously where did this girl pack her clothes? The only normal bag that her brother took was pretty small to be packing clothes in for a month.

Oh well. Who was I to question? So without another thought I grabbed the bags and headed to the same vessel that contained the owner, who I was pretty sure I would never get to smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Teen Titans.**

Rachel Roth's Point of View

I heard someone coming from behind me and it sounded like lighter footsteps than my brother's. My suspicion was confirmed when I heard him clear his voice. "So, I never got your name earlier. Oh and, ah, don't worry; all of your stuff is on the boat."

Without turning around I mumbled a weak thanks that I was sure he would barley be able to hear. I was about to tell him to go away when he walked in front of me, forcing me to look at him. Now that he was closer, I had to admit that he was attractive. From his messy blond hair and strong bone structure, he had it all. But all that didn't matter to me at the moment because he was so close that I had to crane my neck and bend backwards to look at him.

"Can I please know your name? Or is that classified information?"

"You never told me yours."

"You already know my name." That just ticked me off more, yes I did know his name but he didn't have to call me on it.

"Fine, let's do this again." Against my better judgment I held out my hand for him to shake. "I'm Rachel Roth, and you are?"

He smiled a goofy grin and grabbed the hand that I had held out to him. "Gar Logan, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm going to be your next door neighbor for the summer, so if you need anything don't hesitate to ask."

I nodded even though I was sure I never would. I didn't want to say anything at the moment because I was sure it would come out a garbled mess. All I could concentrate on was the way his big, calloused hand was over mine and how even though it was so big it still seemed to be gentle with me.

Quickly I let go of his hand only after one shake and cleared my throat in hopes it would make me be able to talk again. "How long of a drive is it?"

"Only about 30 minutes but I have to start driving in order to get us anywhere."

I nodded roughly and let go a sigh of relief when he went back above deck. That boy was dangerous, because he just might be the one that makes me see how happy my life could be.

Gar Logan's Point of View

The drive home was uneventful and boring. As I stayed above deck to drive the ship the Roth's were below deck with the lights turned off. I secretly wondered if their skins had ever even seen the sun for more than 10 minutes at a time. They were both so pale and there wasn't a single freckle or blemish on either one of them. That was very different than my bunch of friends and myself you all had darker skin then what we were born into, much darker skin.

I was actually kind of worried about how the introductions between the Roth's and their new neighbors would turn out. I liked to think of myself as the most social and fun of the group, except maybe for Kori, and Rachel hadn't even done so well with me.

Kori was super enthusiastic and optimistic, everything that Rachel was not. While Rachel was really quite pretty in a dark petit sort of way, Kori was pretty in the tall red head bombshell sort of way. Kori knew it and loved to flaunt it while Rachel didn't know it and purposefully hid it.

My other friend, Dick, and Kori had had a thing a while back and Victor and I could never tell if they were dating or not. They would be holding hands one day and ignoring each other the next. It might be the fact that he was totally driven only by work and school, focusing his attention only on those two things. His intentions were great but he just couldn't focus his attentions on multiple things.

Victor was my ultimate best friend. We had grown up together and he knew everything about me. He was a couple years older than I was and we were like brothers. He even lived with my Grandfather and I for a couple years when his mom get cancer and his parents had to move across the country for medical care.

When we pulled up to the dock that we shared it was late so I was surprised to see a stoked Kori with a yawning Victor and Dick behind her. She was holding what looked like a burnt apple pie and a huge out of this world smile.

"What's with the welcoming committee?" I nearly jumped out of my chair at Rachel's raspy voice.

"You scared me!"

She rolled her eyes and exhaled quickly. "How did they even know that we were coming? Did you tell them? Tell me you didn't tell them. You told them! How many people know that we are here?"

She was having a mini mini mini panic attack that I didn't know that she was capable of. I mean it wasn't full blown or even really noticeable but she was acting actually human, something that quite surprised me.

Was she running away from something or was she just really paranoid about her privacy. I was going to ask her what this rather cute reaction was all about but it came out, "ummmm, I only told them." To make matters worse I sounded rather nervous.

She let out a relived sigh and ran her hands through her hair just like I wanted to. "Okay. Sorry about that, I just really don't want people to know that I am here."

"What are you famous or something?" She let out a small smile that despite myself made me want to smile.

"Something like that." She turned around and grabbed a couple of the weirdly shape bags with a surprising amount of ease. I had lifted those things just an half an hour ago and I knew for a fact that they were heavy. Like, _really heavy. _Her brother came up the stairs right after she had lifted them up.

"You know, sister dearest, that you don't have to grab the heaviest ones in there?"

"Call me that again and I will kick your butt, besides I am just as strong as either one of you and I didn't carry anything before so I kind of owe you guys."

With that she pushed the plank that we used for stepping onto the dock with her foot and went out to greet the welcoming committee.

"You know you might want to close that mouth of yours."

"How the heck did that tiny girl just lift up those bags with that much ease?"

"You wouldn't know it to look at her but she is actually quite strong. She wasn't kidding when she said that she would kick my butt, she has beaten me up one more than one occasion." I looked at the tall guy standing next to me and then his tiny sister, my mouth still wide open.

Rachel was taking the pie from Kori with a forced small smile on her face and even though I couldn't hear what was going on I knew that Kori was about to give her a big hug from her body language. That would for sure not end well. Luckily her brother stepped onto the dock next with the next two heaviest bags, giving Kori a new target.

I caught up to them just as Jason and Kori started speaking. He held out his arm for a handshake and then kissed the tops of her knuckles when she took it.

"My name's Jason Roth and what is your name?"

"Kori Anders." Her voice sounded out of breath like it did when she and Dick first started going out. This was going to be interesting as Dick was standing not 10 feet away shuffling his feet awkwardly with a look or rage on his face.

"Well it is nice to meet you Kori Anders and who are your two companions?"

Victor and Dick finally stepped forward; the former clearly wishing that he was asleep in bed.

"Oh this is friends Dick and Victor. Friends Dick and Victor this is friends Rachel and Jason."

Rachel nodded when her name was spoken and mumbled a weak, "nice to meet you."

Whereas Jason just stuck out his hand to each of them like he did to Kori but instead of kissing their knuckles he just gave a strong shake.

An awkward silence was followed in till Rachel grabbed the two bags that she had been carrying, took out a key from her brother's pocket and went up to the small house. Apparently not giving a second glance to how small and worn it looks. A couple seconds later the light went on and the door was closed once again."

Dick decided to state the obvious, "Well she is an interesting character."

"Sorry about that guys, my sister just isn't a people person. Plus she has some bad stuff going on at the moment; actually she has had some bad stuff going on all her life. It isn't an excuse, its just and explanation. It was really nice to meet all of you, thanks for the help Gar. I'll be seeing you all around, night!" He was already turning around and walking away with the rest of the bags when he said the last word.

"Well that was awkward," I said. "Anyone up for hitting the hay now?"

The words hadn't even left my mouth and Victor was already walking away muttering something about crazy people. I laughed at that, he wouldn't remember any of this in the morning. He had to be tired he had worked at least 2 shifts today as well as the paper we had to write.

Kori and Dick were next to walk away, whispering to each other in unidentifiable hushed tones. Everyone had already left so I was the only one to hear the loud arguing coming from next door.


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Teen Titans.**

Rachel Roth's P.O.V.

To say that this place was on its last life was an understatement. Nothing could distract me from that fact, not even the fact that my brother was seriously crushing on the girl next door, _literally. _Seriously? What was with kissing her hand? It made me, for one, want to gag.

They seemed nice enough but I seriously couldn't afford to let them know anything about me. Or worse, grow attached to them then watch them suffer when I disappeared.

It was bad enough that I had to protect my brother and mother but there was no way in God's sweet heaven and earth that I was going to protect any more people. And I have never had an issue about staying away from people, ever. But these people, I barely knew them and I was already dreading the day that I had to vanish without a trace, away from them, away from _him._

Maybe I had never had this issue because all the kids my age growing up had parents with the same moral values as my father. I had grown up around killer's kids who would not doubt follow in their parents footsteps based on the cold calculating look in all of their eyes.

But these people next door, they were just so real yet no real at the same time. The way that the girl looked at me with her big innocent green eyes made me want to protect her from the harm in this world that I had helped create. The way that the broody one looked on with a scowl as, what I am guessing his former girlfriends face lit up with a blush when my brother kissed her. The way that the big, tall guy looked on with a sleepy smirk on his face made me want to get to know him better. To know what caused that sad look in his eyes when he thought no one was looking, the same look that Gar got in his eyes.

These types of people I had only seen on T.V. and they were like the perfect group of friends that, at a time, I allowed myself to dream of. They didn't know me, and they never could. I wouldn't let them. So I took the sweet yet burned gesture that was the apple pie from Kori's arms and left the second I felt myself want to talk to them in the way I had never wanted to talk to anyone.

The house that I had entered was in serious need of a cleaning job. That would have to be done later as the clock on the wall stated that it was indeed tomorrow. This small little house was indeed dingy but I never planned on living here. In fact no one should know that I was staying here for the summer, but people did, so I would have to work with it.

The house needed to be cleaned and scrubbed with bleach to do the things that I was planning on doing, before and after we left.

My thoughts were interrupted my brother's rather loud entrance to the house. "What the heck were you thinking Rachel? These people will be are neighbors for the entire summer and not only that but they are probably the only normal people that you will ever get to talk to without painting the walls with their brains!"

My brother may not know what exactly the family business was about but he had a pretty accurate idea, that I had to convince him was a bad one. "Seriously? How melodramatic can you get? I've meet normal people and talked to them, and what makes you think that I paint the walls with people's brains? Could you not paint a more disgusting image?"

"I'm sorry. You're right I have no idea what your job is going to be or what it is going to be like. But I have grown up with you and I know for a fact that you have never once had a friend and that it exactly the type of thing that mom wants you to have before you do heaven know what. I know that you and dad have this arrangement going on, and I may not know what it is but I know that it is bad. I trust you to make the right choices but I am worried about you. You may not be painting the walls with people's brains but I have seen the look in your eyes after you come home from a trip with dad.

Just please, for once, let yourself forget about the things that you have either seen or done. They don't define you. Give these people a chance they're as good as any to make friends with, maybe even better. Who knows? I would just hate to have you look back on your life and regret this summer, because this may be your last chance to ever have some fun."

With that he took off to the stairs taking them two at a time leaving the bags on the ground next to the door, leaving me without a breathe left in my body. He was right and he knew that I knew that he was right. Dang him! Why did he have to have a brain to use to pick up on things? He didn't pick up on barley anything, why did he have to worry about me? I wasn't the one to be worried about, that was him.

I heard the shower go on upstairs as I went to the room next to the bathroom where my brother currently was. I went through my routine of locking the doors, windows and then proceeded to cover any glass or cracks with blankets that were on the bed.

I slept on the floor with my room like this every night since I was six years old. I couldn't bring myself to even ever lie down on a bed after that night.

I had just started the first grade when my father decided that my brother was too soft to take over the business and he realized that my mother was never going to have any more children. That night he took me from the room that at the time I had shared with Jason. I was scared out of my mind at the image of a gun pointed at my face when I woke up. He brought me to the stolen black Federal SUV that he always seemed to have and told me for the first time what exactly he did.

My father told me that I was going to take over his job one day and when I told him I wouldn't he brought the gun out again with a wicked smile on his face and traced the outline of my face with the barrel.

"That's where you are wrong, daughter. You are perfect for the job and even though you don't want to be, in the end you will prove to be just like me. Even now at this tender age you haven't cried or even so much as flinched as I told you the stories. You didn't make a whimper when you woke up to this gun. You were scared, yes, but determined to not let anyone know that. Ever wonder why you don't have a friend? It's because you are too cruel to deserve one, no one wants to be friends with the likes of you, daughter. So even though you say no, in the end you will say yes. But to make sure…"

He pulled over to the side of the road in front of a nice two story house and took the gun away from my face.

"Do you know whose house this is, daughter?" When I shook my head he chuckled. "Well this happens to be the house of a little girl who is in the same class as you and your soft brother. Do you notice how there are no other houses around? Well that makes them the perfect target to demonstrate to you just how much power I yield."

He got out of the car and yanked me out of the driver's side with him from the passenger seat and dragged me to the door.

I don't remember how we got into the girl's room but I remember her sleeping face. I had met her today and couldn't remember her name but he was right she was in my class. She seemed nice and I had hoped that she might be my first friend.

I didn't make a sound as he pulled the trigger to her sleeping innocent face. I didn't make a sound when her parents came in and saw their baby girl dead before he shot them too. I didn't make a sound at the baby brother's cries from the sounds of his family dying.

My father made a wicked smile at the sound of that baby crying, he dragged me to the nursery and looked down at the innocent little face. "Do you know what, Rachel? I'm not going to kill him. I want him to live with the fact for the rest of his life that his family was murdered and he couldn't do a thing about it. But that isn't enough; do you know what else I am going to do to him, Rachel?"

At the sound of my silence he smiled again, that creepy smile that will haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. He pulled the trigger one last time, but not at his face or chest like he did with the last ones. Instead he went for that baby's leg, so that not only would he be orphaned for the rest of his life but he would be crippled as well. With that he called 911 so that the baby and the bodies would be found quickly and dragged me out of there before the cops even knew we were there. Not once did I make a sound or try to stop him, I kept thinking it was a dream.

I lost my childhood that night. From then on whenever I closed my eyes I pictured her sleeping face so peaceful like before he pulled the trigger. So I will never sleep in a bed again, because I was scared, and because I owed her. The discomfort of the floor was nothing to what she and her family had suffered that night. To make matters worse I never remembered her name and I never mentioned that night again.


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own the Teen Titans.**

Rachel Roth's Point of View

When the alarm on my phone informed me that it was time to get up a couple hours later I checked to make sure that my brother was asleep before I left the house. I prayed a silent thank you to the fact that Gar had forgotten to put the boat in the boathouse last night as I didn't have the keys to that particular building.

Sure I could easily break in and have no one even know that I was there but it just seemed wrong to do that here in this peaceful place. I did however steal the keys from Gar's pocket last night to start the vessel. He hadn't even flinched as I reached in while he was distracted, and if I profiled him right he wouldn't even notice that they were gone. My hope was that he would just assume that he gave them back to Jason already.

Jason doesn't know this but we didn't need Gar to drive us home last night. I had been trained to pilot everything under the sun since the day I turned 12. As I turned the engine on I counted how many hours I would have before someone noticed that this boat was missing, to be safe I decided I had to be back in two hours tops.

As I pulled into the dock connected to a small town half an hour later I saw the man that I was looking for. Daddy wasn't the only one who could rub elbows with the influential.

"Ms. Rachel Roth, I presume?" I nodded and shook the hand that he had held out to me. "Detective Samuel Jeroe, it's a pleasure to meet you. I understand that you have some information to us about your father. As you know we have been trying to catch him for years so it really is an honor to be working with the person that might finally put him behind bars."

Oh my gosh, I got the rookie. He was rambling on and on about this was the case of the century and my father's trial would be the trial of a century. The police all over the countr suspected my father but not a lick of proof has ever been found and the case against him always was shot done within the day of it opening.

"Detective, I really don't think this is the place to be discussing this."

"Oh yes I quite agree, I'm sorry I just got so exited! This is my first year on the job and I am very nervous."

"Yes well, we don't you to be the one who makes the mistake that leads to us all getting killed now would we. So I suggest that you follow my advice and go fishing with me, I hear that at this hour the fish will be biting like mad."

"What a great idea! I assume you brought the poles and such?"

I nodded and lead him onto my boat and drove away. I had no such intentions of following this silly mans _genius_ plan of how my family will be put in protective custody and we could even go in the witness protection program. I knew that this case wouldn't stick and even if it did my father would simply vanish without a trace. No, this wasn't my master plan to protect my family. It was my plan to make sure that Daddy knew that his little girl had spilled the beans. After he found out who testified against him, none of his attentions will be set on Jason or my mother. It will all be on me, which is exactly what I want to happen.

Gar Logan's Point of View

The boat and keys were gone. Let me rephrase this, the boat and keys were gone! The keys were given to me by Jason to be returned and I had spit the trust right back in his face. Not only did I lose the keys but I forgot to put it in the boathouse last night.

To make matters worse I was the only one around who was around, so no one could help me look for it!

That's when it hit me. There was no one here to steal the boat. The only people that came to this part of the lake where the people who lived here, and that list was short. In fact it only had 6 names on it.

Rachel.

She was the only one who would have the guts to go into my pocket to steal a set of keys, and the way that she was while on the boat yesterday proved she was familiar with being on boats. Her brother Jason had been rocketing all over the place and tripping over the ropes, but not Rachel.

She was up to something and the thought of that put unbelievable theories in my head. Was she a secret government spy trained not to ever show emotions? Was she the secret general of an army of mutant ninjas that the government was hiding away? Was she part robot?

The last theory made we want to laugh. I had looked into those eyes of hers and however emotionless they were, they were definitely human. Every feature was too perfect to be made in a lab. We humans can't think up that much beauty; it has to happen by accident, all on its own.

Back to the incident at hand, as the boat was put under the name Roth and her last name was Roth it technically wasn't stealing, but still! Didn't she know that her brother had made me responsible for it? Didn't she know that stealing keys from a guy's pocket was wrong? Of course she did, she just didn't care.

To say that I was mad was an understatement. I mean, seriously, who does that? Oh she was not about to get away with this! It may have been childish but I sat down on the dock with a little huff in hopes that she would get here soon. Ignoring the splinter I just got in my hand I scanned the dark horizon.

I don't know when I fell asleep but I did.

The next time I woke up I was in my bed with the clothes I was wearing from the night before on my floor and when I checked the pocket, sure enough, the keys were inside. Did I dream up the whole thing?

When I looked out my window the boat was exactly where I left it on the docks. I had to be going crazy! As I ran my hand through my hair a sharp pain was brought to my attention. I looked down and the splinter I had gotten a few hours previous was right there.

Every single little thing she had taken care of, except for the hand. Rachel Roth I have to admit that you are good, just not good enough.

Rachel Roth's Point of View

After meeting with the detective I put just enough gas in the boat to look as if it hadn't moved all night, put Gar back in his bed, and put the keys back in his pocket.

Goodness he was a heavy sleeper, and heavy. Let us not forget heavy. The next day that I have to lift Gar Logan into his bed will be the day that pigs fly. Thank goodness that his room was on the first floor, I would have never made it up those stairs.

I walked over to my house where Jason was sleeping peacefully and made myself a cup of tea and started working on my paper, just like I do every single morning at this exact time.

No one would ever even know I was gone.


End file.
